The field of the present invention is furniture mats for supporting a chair.
Chair mats used in both office and home environments are to facilitate the ease of movement of rolling chairs placed upon them. In addition, chair mats also help to protect the carpet or other flooring surfaces underneath from the inevitable wear caused from repeated movement of the rolling chair over the surface.
There are many chair mat designs and foldable sheet mechanisms. Reference is made to U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,387,128, 4,448,625, 4,476,174, 4,784,888, 5,059,476, 5,073,428, 6,177,165, 6,183,833, 6,284,341 and 6,287,659. The predominant design in use today is a transparent plastic molded unit that usually includes a series of spikes protruding from the underside of the mat. Anyone that has tried to fit one of these difficult to roll up units into their car has likely felt the wrath of these plastic spikes against their skin. The purpose of the included molded spikes is to lock the chair mat into the carpet fibers thus holding it in place. The purpose of the mat being molded in transparent plastic is to allow the carpet or other floor covering color under the mat to show through.
The problem with these transparent molded chair mats are three fold. First, the plastic being transparent and relatively smooth does nothing to hide the inevitable black chair wheel marks, scuffs, scratches and embedded dirt. In fact, it seems to amplify them in appearance. Second, the clear plastic chair mat is relatively weak in structure by nature. Most clear chair mats are molded of rigid vinyl or polycarbonate. Neither of these plastics are actually “rigid”. At the thicknesses most chair mats are molded, 0.080″-0.200, they can easily be flexed which somewhat defeats the intended purpose of facilitating a rolling chair. This causes added fatigue by the user when trying to traverse their chair over the surface. Third, again adding to the flexibility of these materials, is the problem of “chair ruts”. A chair rut may be defined as a place the chair rests for long periods of time that actually stretches the plastic chair mat underneath into the formation of a groove replicating the wheel shape. These areas are highly stressed and it is usually here where the transparent plastic chair mat cracks first.
There have been many inventions including v-grooves or relief sections molded within the plastic chair mat to facilitate folding to allow easier transport for cash and carry purchases at the local office supply store. However, these hinge designs leave much to be desired within the design parameters that allow for a high quality chair mat that functions properly at a low cost. Either the hinge design leaves a weak spot, such as a “v groove” where material is absent increasing fatigue and causes a ditch for the traversing roller chair or they leave a bump and or a void creating weakness in their attachment areas.
There are many other chair mat inventions that have addressed the problems of wear, rigidity and fold ability. These include chair mats made of wood, high pressure laminates; even glass. Each have their own problems and limitations. The most glaring of all these problems is cost. What is desired is a chair mat that is foldable without spring back to allow easy transport, one that hides wheel scuffs, scratches and dirt, one that is long lasting and finally; a chair mat that is rigid and strong to allow easy rolling of the chair placed upon it.